Computer Club and Olympics

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Grotto of Lourdes - Emmittsburg, MD)

• The tongue is the deadliest of all blunt instruments. (Anonymous in Meditations for Parents Who Do Too Much, by Jonathon and Wendy Lazear, 21 May)
• I have the right to choose my own standards of conduct, but I do not have the right or power to impose those standards on others. (Courage to Change, 1 June)
• You should strive for a union between your purposes in life and the purposes of the Divine Principle directing the universe. There is no bond of union on earth to compare with the union between a human soul and Godo. (Alan L. Roeck, Look to This Day, 1 August)
  
  Yesterday I went to the Seniors Computer Club meeting at the Bowie, Maryland Senior Center. One of the members ran the computer to give us a talk about subscribing to Smart Computing magazine. It was the second time in a year that this magazine was the featured speaker. The first time a young lady came to give the talk. This time we used a presentation on CD. Both were effective. The magazine comes out twelve times a year and cost $29.00. As part of the subscription they offer an extensive website and and 800 number help line. After watching the second presentation I think I am going to subscribe for a year. The two computers for public access to the Internet have been installed in the hallway at the front of the center. I didn't hear anyone mention how that's working out. Each session is limited to thirty minutes.
  
  Today is the start of the Olympics from China. This time they are going to broadcast on six television channels. We get five of the channels. The article in the paper said there will be 3,600 hours of coverage. By the time the events are over we will have Olympic hangover.
  
  Melva went to her quilting class at the Senior Center today. The instructor actually has two sessions each Friday. Melva is in the session before noon. Sometimes the students are there for part of both sessions.
  
  I tired to upload one photo to Facebook yesterday. I didn't have any luck with that. Maybe I'll have to ask for some help.
  
  Mr. Dickie

Mr. Dickie

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Photo of Mr. Dickie when he really was Mr. Dickie.)

• I chose not to squander my time and energy on things I cannot change. My security is too dear to sacrifice on circumstances beyond my control. (A Time to Be Free, 5 August)
• You can't open your mind at the same time your fists are clinched. (Mr. Dickie, after Courage to Change, 5 August)
• No matter how we meet our mate or who makes the introduction, we create ... the relationship we experience. (Iyanla Vanzant, Acts of Faith, 6 August)

Yesterday Betty, one of my long time friends on AOL, invited me to join Facebook. While I've heard about it I really don't know anything about the service. I decided to accept the offer and register. The registration process was quite simple. They wanted to know my birthdate, where I graduated from high school and college and where I'd worked. Using that information they presented thumbnail photos of many people I might know already or who were in my the school and work groups. Then I could chose whether to send them a message that I wanted to "be their friend." I was surprised to see that several of our nephews in Panama were already members and that they were waiting for me to join.

This morning I linked to one of my former co-workers at The Library of Congress. So far I wasn't able to upload any photos except the one for my profile. I suppose that's the same issue I have when trying to do some uploads to other blogs and groups using the telephone connection.

I used the close-up setting on my digital camera to capture the image used with today's blog entry. There's a little annoying glare in the upper left hand corner. I think I can do better next time. I own a copy stand with lights. I've never used it. It's up in the attic. I plan to go get it if we have a cool evening sometime soon. I have a hunch that putting a light source on both sides of the copied photograph will eliminate the glare. I thought the shot turned out pretty well considering I held the photo in one hand and the camera in the other.

Mr. Dickie

What's Easier These Days?

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Grotto of Lourdes, Emmitsburg, MD)

What's Easier These Days?
No matter what your life circumstances, no matter what you are going through right now, because of the work you've done on yourself, some things are easier, if only because your ability to roll with the punches has improved.

Take a few moments right now to look at your life as a whole and reflect on what has become easier. Your intimate relationships? Your parenting? Your effectiveness in dealing with a difficult person? Your ability to give up perfectionism? Whatever it is, take a minute to celebrate those things, and allow them to remind you that life can improve.

(M.J. Ryan, Instant Health and Happiness Boosters, 5 August)

The Internet can be such a wonderful tool, when everything is working. I never get tired of using Email. Being able to stay in closer touch with family and friends has been a wonderful blessing in all our lives. Yesterday we received photographs from Panama. This morning there was a thoughtful message from my college friend, Jim Rowe, who lives on the west coast in Renton, WA. I can share, in WebLogs or Groups: my thoughts, my Arrow Prayers, my genealogy work and photographs I've taken recently with the new digital camera. All I have to do is register with the service and take the time to learn how to use it. If you have a computer and haven't tried some of these things yet I encourage you to get involved. It's challenging to learn and gratifying when you get the knack of it.

Last night I used the free Google Picasa photo editor to improve many of the photographs I took during our recent vacation. Using the automatic settings on the camera seems to result in many underexposed photographs. There's a way to set the camera to compensate. I'm still learning about that. I found an easy way to use Picasa to correct the problems once the photos are on the computer. After I changed the photos I discovered that the last step is to click a button that saves a back up copy of each photo before saving another copy of the improved photograph. I modified about 70 photos. It took the laptop around twenty minutes to save all the work. I was able to walk away from the computer while that process was completed. Today's photo is one of those that I fixed. The statue is at the end of a walkway up the hill into the woods. It was quite shady and there was lots of afternoon backlight behind the cross. Thanks to the Picasa editing capability I was able to modify the photograph and improve it. Remember in the old days, the print of the shot would come back from the photo processor too dark to see and we'd either put it back in the envelope or throw it in the trash.

Mr. Dickie

Melva's Crazy Quilt

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Melva's Crazy Quilt)

Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you. (Aldous Huxley, in Courage to Change, 3 August)

I am in a healing process! (Iyanla Vanzant, Faith in the Valley, p. 187)

I dream the dreams that are inspired by Spirit and follow them in ways that bless me and all those whose lives I touch. (Daily Word, day 135, Colleen Zuck)

Melva's Charm Quilt

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Melva's Charm Quilt - professionally quilted, blocks exchanged with class members)

• All the well-meaning advice in the world won't amount to a hill of beans if we're not addressing the real problem. (Stephen R. Covey, Daily Reflections For Highly Effective People, 4 August)
• Space Out! Live your own life and allow others their rightful space to live theirs. (after Body, Mind, and Spirit, 3 August)
• You cannont see God, but you can see the results of faith in human lives, changing them from defeat to victory. (Alan L. Roeck, Look To This Day, 30 July)

Last night I learned more about some of the capability of my digital camera. There's a function called the Design Gallery that has features to to enchance the images using the camera itself. There are five categories: apply artistic effects, modify color, add borders, rotate images, and crop images. There are four artistic effects: posterize, soft glow, slimming, and kaleidoscope. There are seven kinds of border: soft edge, inset border, oval, circle, rectangle, rounded rectangle and square. Modified images are saved as new photographs.

The Design Gallery provides a very easy way to change the appearance of the photographs. It's even possible to combine more than one of the effects. I'm impressed that all of this capability came as part of the what the camera can do. I'm looking forward to putting some of the modified photographs on the the Internet.

Mr. Dickie

Jim Henson and Kermit

Photos: Mr. Dickie (Jim Henson and Kermit at the University of Maryland, Pholox and Black-eyed Susan our garden)

• Spirituality doesn't have to imply a particular philosophy or moral code; it simply means that there is a Power greater than ourselves upon which we can come to rely. (Courage to Change, 29 July)
• Time is like a river of fleeting events, and its current is strong; as soon as something comes into sight, it is swept past us, and something else takes its place, and that too will be swept away. (Marcus Aurelius, in Time to Be Free, 29 July)
• When we let down our hair too early in the game we are apt to end up with a messed up head. (Iyanla Vanzant, Acts of Faith, 29 July)

Today we went for an hour walk in our neighborhood. I forgot to wear my pedometer. There isn't much to look at when we stay at home to walk. Sometimes it seems like a good idea just to avoid getting in one of the cars and placing ourselves in jeopardy for a drive to the park.

Melva drove us to Laurel where we ate lunch at a little Chinese place where we often go during the week to eat the buffet lunch. They don't have the buffet on Saturday. Afterwards we stopped at Target. I was trying to find a headset radio. They didn't have any. I decided to buy the last sports radio that you strap to you arm. I've never had one of those before. I recently broke the two headset radios I'd been using when I walk. Because I usually listen to classical music on the PBS radio station when I walk I don't really need digital tuning. I settled for manual tuning and only paid $10.00 for the radio.

In the evening I copied about 40 photos from the camera card to my computer thumb drive. Then I made the four photo collage that accompanies this blog entry. Melva and I recently made a special trip to the University of Maryland to take the photographs of Jim Henson and Kermit. Mr. Henson was a graduate of the university and he got his start on Washington, DC television.

This week I've been updating my genealogy file about the Henthorn family of Lancashire, England. I remember when I started doing genealogy in about 1987 there was one, very hard to follow, twenty-three page document about this family. After adding the information about the Brierly family which Rev. John Brierly McCall shared on the Internet I can prepare a Register report which will soon be one hundred and twenty pages. Thanks to Reverent McCall for all the work he did and for sharing on the Internet.

Mr. Dickie

Grotto of Lourdes - Emmitsburg, MD

Photo: Mr. Dickie (Grotto of Lourdes - Emmitsburg, MD)

• It is one thing to promise, and quite another to perform. (His Passion, Day 155)
• It goes without saying that your friends are usually the first to discuss your personal business behind your back. (Terry McMillan, from "Mame," in Acts of Faith by Iyanla Vanzant, 22 July)
• In your relationships always read the fine print. (after Iyanla Vanzant, Acts of Faith, 31 July)

I was thinking about my career in data processing. The thing I always disliked about working in this field was that most of the time I felt like I was playing catch-up. Every time there was a problem it seemed like it was a new one, one I'd never seen before. This provided a wonderful opportunity for learning and a lot of stress. Sometimes I wished the latest problem would be one I'd seen before so I could apply knowledge already gained to fixing whatever was wrong. I suppose many of my co-workers thrived in such an environment. I don't recall feeling like I was thriving.